Budae jjigae

Name: Budae jjigae
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 pots
Cuisine: korean
Ingredients: 250 g Kimchi, chopped, plus juice; 200 g Spam, sliced; 150 g Pork, sausages or hot dogs, sliced; 200 g Tofu, sliced; 1 tbsp Gochujang; 1 tbsp Gochugaru; 1 tbsp Soy sauce; 3 clove Garlic; 0.5 piece Onion; 2 piece Spring onion; 1 block Wheat noodles, instant ramyeon noodles, seasoning packet optional; 100 g Garaetteok; 40 g Melting cheese; 700 ml Water; 300 g Rice, uncooked, to serve

부대찌개

Army-base stew: kimchi, spam, sausages and ramyeon in a gochujang broth that refuses to be precious.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 부대찌개.

0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.

Start cooking

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 25 min
Total: 40 min
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: Hot
Cost: Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Source photograph of Budae jjigae. Not official I Want Some Food pixel artwork. — Photo: Xiaolongimnida via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

About

Budae jjigae is a pot born of surplus and invention. Kimchi broth, sliced spam, hot dogs, baked beans if you are old-school, tofu, and a brick of ramyeon at the end. It is loud, salty and meant to be shared from one pan. This is not fusion as a restaurant idea. It is history you can still taste.

Ingredients

Servings

Kimchi, chopped, plus juice250 g
Spam, sliced200 g
Pork, sausages or hot dogs, sliced150 g
Tofu, sliced200 g
Gochujang15 ml
Gochugaru15 ml
Soy sauce15 ml
Garlic3 clove
Onion½
Spring onion2
Wheat noodles, instant ramyeon noodles, seasoning packet optional1 block
Garaetteok (optional)100 g
Melting cheese (optional)40 g
Water700 ml
Rice, uncooked, to serve300 g

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Brown spam and sausage slices in a wide pot. Push aside. Add kimchi, garlic and onion and fry 3 minutes.
6 min
Step 2
Stir in gochujang, gochugaru, soy and water. Arrange tofu and tteok on top. Simmer 10 minutes.
10 min
Step 3
Add ramyeon noodles for the last 3 minutes. Cheese and spring onion. Eat from the pot with rice on the side.

Adapt this recipe

The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.

Substitutions

Spam → Ham or leftover roast pork
You lose the specific canned flavour. Still a pot.

Tips

Baked beans are traditional in some Uijeongbu pots. A spoon is enough.
Do not dump the whole ramyeon seasoning packet unless you like salt as a sport.

History & culture

Uijeongbu is the pilgrimage. Students and groups still cook it at the table. Call it what it is: a postwar stew that became comfort food.

US army-base surplus meats met Korean kimchi pots after the Korean War. We do not romanticise the hunger. We do record the dish that came out of it.

Modern adaptation — Spam and sausages are the point. Skip them and you have kimchi jjigae.

Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Not copied from another recipe site. Official recipe photography is pending. Photograph: Xiaolongimnida via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Budae%20jjigae%20t%C3%A1lalva.jpg

Questions about this recipe

Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.

How long does Budae jjigae take?

40 min all in — 15 min prep, 25 min cook. That is the time on this recipe, not a guess.

How many does it serve?

The recipe is written for 4 pots. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.

How hard is it?

Easy.

How spicy is it?

Hot.

What allergens should I watch?

This recipe is labelled for Soy, Wheat, Fish. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.

Does it fit a diet?

The published recipe is labelled Dairy-free, Nut-free.

What does it cost to cook?

Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.

What equipment do I need?

Dutch oven, Saucepan.

How much salt do I put in?

This recipe does not list salt as its own ingredient. Saltiness comes from Kimchi — 250 g (chopped, plus juice); Gochujang — 1 tbsp; Soy sauce — 1 tbsp. Taste at the end rather than adding a number we did not write.

How much kimchi?

250 g (chopped, plus juice) of Kimchi.

How much gochujang?

1 tbsp of Gochujang.

How much gochugaru?

1 tbsp of Gochugaru.

How much soy sauce?

1 tbsp of Soy sauce.

What can I use instead?

Spam → Ham or leftover roast pork. You lose the specific canned flavour. Still a pot.

Any tips from this recipe?

Baked beans are traditional in some Uijeongbu pots. A spoon is enough. Do not dump the whole ramyeon seasoning packet unless you like salt as a sport.

Can I use an air fryer?

This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.